Gareth Barry has been ruled out of the England Euro 2012 squad through an abdominal injury picked up in the friendly against Norway.

The 31-year-old was a half-time substitute but was forced off 30 minutes after the restart with a groin injury. The Manchester City player has been replaced in the squad by Everton defender Phil Jagielka.

Jagielka had been dissappointed not to be included in the original 23 man squad, after enjoying a good season with Everton and also forming a strong centre-back partnership with Joleon Lescott whilst on England duty.

Jagielka said:

I wasn’t trying to think too far ahead, obviously with Gaz going, it was always going to be a lottery of which person the manager chose. But if you look and saw two for every position, we were one defender light and there was an extra midfielder in there anyway so thankfully for me, I got the nod.

Jagielka making return to the England fold

Jagielka returns for England

With Jagielka joining ranks that include John Terry, Gary Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jones, England are looking more than sturdy in defence. William Hill and Paddy Power are both offering 9/1 for England to concede the least goals in the tournament.

Spain are still the tournament favourites, even without Barcelona striker David Villa, who has not recovered from a broken leg suffered whilst playing in the World Club Championship. Spain are best priced 3/1 at William Hill to retain their title as European champions. England are behind in the betting to Germany, Holland and France but are a best priced 12/1 at Stan James to return home victorious.

All we know for certain is that with just over a week until the start of the tournament, Poland/Ukraine promises to be one of the greatest European Championships.

Nathan Lee

I am a Journalism student at London Metropolitan University and also work part-time in William Hill.

I’m an avid Manchester United fan and my main sporting interests are football and horse racing. I have kept my own sports blog since the start of the year and regularly blog about football.

I hope you enjoy my articles and hopefully can get some discussion going between you all.

Follow me on Twitter @nathanlee11

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